Marco Polo2014

Ahmad:
Your brother made you into a whore for his ambition. Did that bother you?

Mei Lin:
I made myself a whore. And I used him long before he learned to use me. When he was a boy and I a little girl living in the shadow of Xiangyang. I stared at the Walled City, dreaming what life might be like there. What did you dream as a boy?

Ahmad:
I suffered dreamless sleep.

Mei Lin:
Did you come to the Khan's service by choice?

Ahmad:
No.

Mei Lin:
By chance? As chattel? Born of Persia?

Ahmad:
My people were the Fanakati. I'm from Upper Asia, not Persia.

Mei Lin:
And brought to China to serve your conqueror.

Ahmad:
I was too young then to know him as a conqueror. He was my my patron, my benefactor. He became as a father to me, and the Empress, a mother.

Mei Lin:
What happened to your real mother, your true father? Was the Khan their benefactor, too? [turning] How do you serve the monster who slew your brethren and call him father? You worship his whores, concubine and queen. And you are left here as nursemaid while war is waged.

Ahmad:
You attempt to crawl under my skin? I could get under your skin, carve it free, and wear it as a cloak. Better I could walk next door and do the same thing to your daughter. [walks away]

Mei Lin:
What do you mean? Please, what are you What are you saying?

Ahmad:
[responding through the lattice] War is waged on many fronts, Mei Lin...

Mei Lin:
Please! What - what are you saying?